South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said the United States supports South Korea’s efforts to secure uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities.
Published November 14, 2025
The United States and South Korea announced details of a trade deal that includes a $150 billion investment by South Korea in the U.S. shipbuilding sector, and the two countries agreed to “proceed” with building nuclear submarines.
Under the agreement, President Lee Jae-myung said Friday that South Korea would build nuclear-powered submarines as part of a new partnership with the United States on shipbuilding, artificial intelligence and the nuclear industry.
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The United States has authorized South Korea to build nuclear-powered submarines, and South Korea plans to invest an additional $200 billion in the U.S. industrial sector, on top of $150 billion in shipbuilding, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.
South Korea’s state-run Yonhap news agency said the South Korean government’s investment was in return for the US government lowering trade tariffs on South Korean products from 25% to 15%.
“Bilateral negotiations on trade, tariffs and security, which are among the biggest variables for our country’s economy and security, have been finalized,” President Lee said at a press conference on Friday, adding that the two countries had agreed to “proceed with the construction of nuclear submarines.”
“The United States has approved South Korea to build a nuclear-powered attack submarine,” Lee said.
He also said South Korea had secured “support to expand its authority regarding uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing.”
A joint fact sheet outlining the agreement states that the two countries will “further collaborate through a shipbuilding task force” to “increase the number of U.S. commercial vessels and combat-ready U.S. warships.”
Yonhap News also reported that South Korea aims to acquire “at least four 5,000-ton conventionally armed nuclear submarines by the mid-2030s.”
Analysts say South Korea’s development of nuclear-powered ships will provide a major boost to naval and defense industries, allowing South Korea to join a select group of countries with such technological capabilities.
China had already expressed concerns about the agreement between Washington and Seoul on nuclear submarine technology.
Such a partnership “goes beyond a purely commercial partnership and directly touches on the global non-proliferation regime and the stability of the Korean Peninsula and wider region,” Dai Bing, China’s ambassador to Seoul, told reporters on Thursday.
North Korea did not immediately comment on the development, but is likely to respond. North Korea has consistently accused the United States and South Korea of building up military forces on the North Korean border in preparation for a possible invasion.
Details about where the nuclear submarines will be built remain unclear.
US President Donald Trump said on social media last month that South Korea would build nuclear submarines right here in the good old Philadelphia shipyards of the United States.
But Seoul’s National Security Adviser Wie Song-lak said on Friday that “the discussions between the leaders proceeded from beginning to end on the assumption that construction would take place in South Korea.”
“Therefore, the question of where the construction will take place can now be considered resolved,” Wie said.
